Low Fat options?

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I have suffered gall bladder problems for the last couple years and my doctor finally realized that it might be time to get it taken out so December 22nd is the Big Day.

In preparation he put me on a restricted fat (~30 gm/day) diet from last week till two weeks after the surgery...bummer for the holidays, no? I'm jonesing for the boiled beef in spicy sauce at LSC but I had rib tips from Honey 1 two weeks ago whose memory has gotten me through many a meal since

That said, I still like to eat out! I had a shrimp tostada at La Cazuela the other night and I had the stewed tofu at Lao Sze Chuan in Westmont. Both were good (even without the chips at LaC), but I am looking for more options. Any ideas? The good thing is that oyster sauce and chili paste are fat free so I can spice things up which helps, but I'm a little sick of those at the moment.

Chen's in Wrigleyville does some nice lowfat carefully prepared spicy stir fries for those watching fat. There are lowfat options on their Szechuan dishes, Soong, and strir fried green dishes.

Chen's is not Chinatown quality. However, it blows away It's Wrigleyville competition.

http://www.chenschicago.com/menu-chinese.htm

I have resisted responding to this question but I lost my gall bladder on May 17th this year on an emergency basis.

You may be doing the low-fat diet routine a lot longer than a month or two. Some people have significant problems digesting fat AFTER the surgery. You *can* eat the fat, but you'll be having the worst cramps that you could imagine. And some spices may also cause significant problems. Some people find that it goes away in a week or two. For others, it takes months.

Personally, the most reliable way toward low-fat cooking is to do your own.

Thanks for the info jlawrence. I believe you may be right so I'm trying to get used to the idea of no more rib tips

Worst case scenario is I end up saving a ton of money by not eating out...not so bad really and I am a pretty good cook.

Hi,

So how is life after the gall bladder left?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

So how is life after the gall bladder left?

Regards,

As I noted before, I had my gall bladder removed in 2004. I have NOT substantially changed my diet AFTER the surgery as I have not found any foods or spices or anything else that has really upset my stomach much.

I might occasionally experience more gas - I never measured it before the surgery - but there has been no stomach irritation to speak of.

Wow that is a blast from the past!

I don't miss the gall bladder attacks one bit. Aside from some rapidity of throughput to coin a phrase, it's been fine.

Just dealt with kidney stones which were completely unrelated but way more painful.

Hi!

I have a friend who is worried about the outcome of a gall bladder removal. I remembered there was not much limiting your diet, though I wanted to be sure.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Regards,

I'm in the same boat: virtually no long-term consequences of being gallbladderless.
My understanding from the surgeon is that my gallbladder was so full of stones for years that it wasn't doing anything anyway, so essentially nothing changed.

But your mileage will vary.